Empowering Leaders

Richard Burnet is the Global CEO and Director of BFT (Body Fit Training) with over 600 franchisees sold across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK, the US, Spain and Hong Kong, and expansion plans underway around the world. BFT is an internationally recognised fitness brand success story. Rich's personal path to this success has had more than its fair share of hurdles and life challenges. Ri...

On the 22nd of August, 2008, Steve Hooker became the first Australian male Olympic gold medalist in a track and field event since Ralph Doubell 40 years earlier in the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Steve Hooker is one of only a handful of athletes to hold the Olympic World Championship, IAAF World Indoor Championship, IAAF Continental Cup, and Commonwealth Games titles at the same time.   Steve was the ca...

George Karl was drafted as a fourth-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs in 1973 from the University of North Carolina. Ten years later, at just 33 years of age, George Karl was appointed as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, making him one of the youngest head coaches in NBA history. In 2016, when Coach Carl finished his last role as a head coach in the NBA, he had been in charge for a rem...

Tara Winkler is an extraordinary Australian humanitarian. In 2011, she was recognised as the New South Wales Young Australian of the Year for her work in establishing the Cambodian Children's Trust.   Her inspirational TED Talk on why we need to end the era of orphanages has been viewed more than 1.2 million times and helped to shine a powerful light on the plight of more than 8 million children a...

Tracy Stockwell OAM is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time world champion, and former world record-holder in three events. None of that would have been possible if at the age of nine, she didn't watch Mark Spitz breaking records at the Games, and she tells us how she engaged the power of visualisation to chase down her dreams in a fearless manner.  Tracy became an honourary Aussie follow...

Meggie Palmer is an award-winning journalist with more than 15 years of global reporting experience. She's the founder and CEO of PepTalkHer, a technology and consulting company focused on closing the gender pay gap. Meggie talks with Luke about finding out from a male colleague exactly how much less she was earning than every man in the newsroom and how fighting for her own pay equity sparked her...

Anita Jacoby is one of Australia’s most distinguished television producers and media executives. With a career spanning more than 35 years, she has created award-winning content across multiple platforms. A genuine pioneer for female success in Australian media, Anita talks about consistently being overlooked for promotion, as men overtook her on the network ladder time and again despite her exper...

This week's guest on the Empowering Leaders podcast is Australian basketball legend, Sandy Brondello, from her Manhattan apartment overlooking the New York skyline, where she is the current coach of the New York Liberty in the WNBA. You'll hear Sandy talk about growing up in a sugar cane farm in Queensland and practicing for hours on end on a grass court with a backboard her dad built for her. It'...

Dr. Shefali has produced groundbreaking work as an author of New York Times best-selling books, that peer through a societal lens to find remedies for over-zealous and highly critical parenting. In this chat, Dr. Shefali looks at what is driving damaging behaviour from parents and institutions and the shifts needed to set our children up for happiness and fulfilment. Dr Shefali's books, The Consci...

Jeff Dimery is the CEO of Alinta Energy. From humble beginnings to where he is today, Dimery lays out the ups and downs he has faced. In this chat, Dimery says Alinta is the biggest single investor in renewable energy in Australia and discusses slashing the defence budget to invest more money, faster, into clean energy so it can become a sustainable and viable option. Jeff also reflects on Austral...

Nick Stone is a former AFL footballer, who moved to New York City in 2010. He envisioned Bluestone Lane whilst attending Business School in New York, with the idea of providing a premium coffee experience that can be readily found in Melbourne Australia Has a great connection with his local customers, the teammates that are his staff members, and putting his life force into moving from Australia t...

Stephanie Alexander AO is regarded as one of Australia’s great food educators. Her reputation has been earned through her thirty years as an owner-chef in several restaurants, as the author of 17 influential books and hundreds of articles about food matters, and for her groundbreaking work in creating the  Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation . The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Found...

Rochelle is Share the Dignity’s founder and Managing Director, though the title she is most proud of though is ‘Pad Lady’. Rochelle has led a team of volunteers collecting millions of period products across Australia. When Rochelle first learned of homeless women going without basic sanitary items during their menstrual cycle, she decided the question was not, “why is no one doing anything” but ra...

Kemi Nekvapil is committed to making a measurable impact. Working with people and organisations that create good in the world and it is a privilege to do this work. Kemi is one of Australia's leading credentialled coaches for female executives and entrepreneurs, an author and a highly sought after international speaker Subscribe to Empowering Leaders wherever you get your podcasts.  See omnystudio...

Well-known Australian entertainer Jules Lund takes us on a journey through this chat. Lund has always been known for his effervescent nature, his openness, humbleness, and his vulnerability.  In the coming weeks, Jules is returning to radio as the drive host on Disrupt Radio; an Australian-first audio network specifically built for leaders and entrepreneurs. We can't think of a more qualified host...

Elizabeth Broderick AO is an Australian lawyer, was the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner for over eight years from 2007 to 2015 and has been a United Nations special rapporteur for Discrimination against Women and Girls since 2017. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Radek Sali is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Light Warrior and Wanderlust Head Co, a Founder and Director of Conscious Investment Management, Stratosphere and Anthem. Radek supports community initiatives as Chairman and Founder of the not-for-profit Lightfolk Foundation, Chairman of Igniting Change and Director at the National Institute of Integrative Medicine, B Team Board member – Austral...

Peggy O'Neal AO is Chancellor of RMIT University, Chair of the Commonwealth Games Victoria 2026 Organising Committee, and was previously President of the Richmond Football Club. Peggy talks about transitioning from America to Australia, ending up in Richmond, and following the Tigers. Then becoming the President of the Tigers and navigating through COVID in 2020 and 2021.  See omnystudio.com/liste...

One of Australia's greatest to ever sit atop a motorcycle Mick Doohan. Mick won five consecutive World Championship titles from 1994 to 1998, winning 54 Grand Prix across his career including a record 12 in the 1997 season. One of Mick's secrets to success is harnessing his passion, and using that to put himself in moments of risk and doubt, knowing it would be the driving force to propel him forw...

Tim Jarvis AM, an environmental scientist, author, adventurer and public speaker with Masters degrees in environmental science and environmental law. He stars in a new film, Shackleton - The Greatest Story of Survival  where he retraces the steps of Sir Ernest Shackleton. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Goyder wears many hats, Chairman of the AFL, Qantas, Woodside Energy, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and the Channel 7 Telethon Trust.  Goyder talks through the challenges he has faced over the journey, learning off terrific mentors on his way into the roles he now holds, and the importance of teamwork as part of leadership.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Se...

Andrew Gaze reached the greatest heights in the world of basketball. Being on the roster for the San Antonio Spurs in their championship year of 1998, representing Australia at the Olympic Games on 5 occasions, 2000 Olympics flag-bearer, and having a surname that's synonymous with the NBL.  Gazey has an infectious personality, and oozes enthusiasm and passion for everything that he does. You leave...

Matt LaFleur is the head coach of the Green Bay Packers.  At the age of 43, he holds the heart of the town in his hands every week of the NFL season, the only not-for-profit, member-owned franchise in US sport. The privilege of head coach is not a role that is lost on him.  The pride he has for the Packers, coaching some of the best players in the game, the challenges and pressure that come with b...

Dr Kirstin Ferguson AM is an author, columnist & company director. She has been the CEO of a global consulting firm, a senior executive at a leading corporate law firm and spent nearly 10 years as an Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force. One of Australia’s most prominent voices on leadership, Kirstin has turned her attention to defining the attributes that great leaders need to learn in h...

After a decorated playing career, Michael Voss took over the role of coaching the club he won 3 Premierships as a captain at, Brisbane. Sacked from the role after 109 games in charge, Vossy was given another opportunity to be a senior coach with Carlton. Now in his second season at the helm, he talks through the incredible leadership skills he has learned from being a first-time coach to where he...